Feb. 18, 2025

From Combat to Compassion Vanessa's Journey of Service and Inspiration

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In this episode, we sit down with Vanessa Hicks Calloway, a retired veteran, author, and inspirational speaker. Vanessa shares her journey from humble beginnings to a distinguished military career, including her combat tours and the lessons learned along the way. She discusses her book, Decision Precision Vision, which merges her military decision-making experience with spiritual guidance. Tune in to discover how Vanessa helps veterans and others improve their decision-making skills while living an abundant life through faith.
Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600

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25:47 - (Cont.) From Combat to Compassion Vanessa's Journey of Service and Inspiration

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome, um, to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. Um, if you believe you can achieve.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire. Today I am joined by author, counselor, and inspirational speaker Vanessa Hicks Calloway. She's going to be talking to us about her book and she's going to be talking about the work that she does for veterans, as she is a retired veteran herself. So, Vanessa, thank you so much for joining me today.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>It is certainly my pleasure to be with you today and on such a great podcast with such great listeners. Thank. Thank you.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Sure, Curtis. Um, first of all, I give, uh, all praise, all glory and all honor to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Um, I've been a wife now for 28 years. I am a mom to two wonderful sons, and I'm certainly proud to be an American patriot. As you alluded to earlier, with my military service, I retired from United States army after doing two combat tours and successfully completing to 26 years of honorable service. Uh, now I believe I have a purpose and a calling and a ministry which is to inspire and help others so that I can improve their decision making. So that's what led me to writing a book that's called Decision Precision Vision. And now every chance I get, I take what I've learned, uh, while I am still learning about the word of God. So I'm learning, and I use what I've learned about the word of God and what I learned while serving in the United States army about decision making. And I merged those together. So I spiritualized the military decision making process, basically.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Um, and now I provide Bible classes for women and for young people. I also provide presentations for conferences, high school graduations, and other types of speaking engagements dedicated to my decision making ministry.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, well, just kind of tell us about, about your military career, you know, why you decided to join and, you know, things that you experienced.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Well, sure, Kerval. I grew up in Victoria, Texas, and we came from very meager beginnings. Okay. I didn't have a dad around. Um, my mother was very, very strong. Um, she was my steel magnolia. And she raised us with an iron fist and a velvet glove. And I made a decision very young that I love my mother, I love my upbringing, but I didn't like living in poverty.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>I felt like there must be something more, there's got to be more to life than growing up in poverty. I didn't want to continue that Trend. So I learned about the United States army and an opportunity to serve my country. And I learned that if we served honorably, that there were benefits. And what I mean by that is they would help us to get a college education.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>So I jumped at that opportunity, joined the United States army, to answer your question. Started off as a private, and my job was a, uh, logistician. So I was responsible for what I call beans, blankets and bullets for the troops. And I eventually worked my way up to the rank of sergeant. And I loved being a supply sergeant. I was very good at it because I loved what I was doing. Handing out the beans, the blankets and the bullets, and going to the field. My first duty station was at Fort Hood, Texas.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>My basic training was actually at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. So it was, uh, a very hard.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>But my upbringing really prepared me to handle the rigors and the discipline and the hard work of being in the United States Army. And it was. I, uh, did so well that I got noticed. And I was approached by a lieutenant who had graduated from West Point. I still can see him in my mind's eye to this day. And he said, you know, Private Hicks, have you ever considered becoming an officer? And Curtis, at that time, I had not considered becoming a military officer. It was like he planted the seed. And I looked at him and I said, well, no, sir. And he said, you should.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And that seed just continued to, uh, blossom, take root and grow. And I completed my first enlistment after four years of honorable service and took advantage of the benefits that you were rewarded if you got an honorable discharge.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And so I did that and ended up going to Sam Houston State University.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And while I was at Sam Houston State University, which is in Huntsville, Texas, I joined the ROTC program, Reserve Officer Training Program. And I also served in the, uh, United States Army Reserves as a military police officer, while working my way through college, while working my way to get that commission.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And I was able to do it, God bless me, and allowed me to commission and to become a distinguished military graduate from Sam Houston State University. And he allowed me to commission as a military intelligence officer. And I just say all this to give God the glory and to show what can really happen, even though you come from meager beginnings. And so as a military intelligence officer, I have been all over the world. I ended up back at Fort Hood, Texas, as my first duty station as an officer. So it was interesting.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>I first went to Fort Hood as a private, went to college, came back to Fort Hood as a second lieutenant, did very well, ended up going all over the world ended up with two deployments, One deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where we had to fly into Kuwait. And then we were responsible for moving in and out of theater. As a military intelligence officer, I would go into Iraq in order to get the intelligence that my brigade commander needed because it was a signal brigade. And the signal brigade's responsibility was to set up communication sites all over Iraq. And we had to keep track of the enemy, picture the enemy situation, and keep the brigade commander well briefed on, um, the risks and also the benefits associated with where the brigade commander wanted to position the communication equipment. And I did that successfully, so much so giving God the glory. I was awarded the Bronze Star for that. However, I shared that medal with the team that God allowed me to be in charge of. So I certainly don't take all the credit for that. Uh, but we did, uh, well, while we were there. I finished up with that deployment, came back to Germany, where I deployed out of, and ended up going to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where they put you in a higher level school called Command and General Staff College. And that's to prepare you, uh, for being a field grade staff officer. So it gets a little more complicated as you move up through the ranks.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And so I ended up being selected to be the chief of Intelligence for an intelligence, uh, organization that was at Joint Base San Antonio called the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center. And during that time I was actually, um, allowed to work as the Chief of Intelligence. And then I forgot about an assignment, an assignment before that when I was at Fort Bliss, Texas. That's when I deployed for the second time, this time in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. So did that, ah, successfully. But then I realized that after 26 years, I really couldn't keep up with what I call the big dogs anymore. The army is a very physical, demanding profession and you have to be able to keep up or the troops just aren't going to respect you. And I realized that. So once I got to the point where I was pushed way out of my comfort zone as far as keeping up physically with the demands of being a, uh, soldier, a military officer, plus trying to balance all of that with being a mom and a wife, so I still had my family that I was taking care of also at the same time through all of this. And I realized it's time to retire. So I retired, uh, from the military after 26 years and became of course, a veteran. And I was very blessed to end up working for the Texas Veterans Commission. So that is a real quick synopsis. Of my military, uh, career and how I'm still utilizing those, uh, skill sets, those blessings, how to make decisions, how to operate in a stressful environment, how to maintain, uh, what I call decorum, professionalism. All of that I brought with me into my civilian world now. And now I'm working for Texas Veterans Commission and promoting Christian decision making.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, tell us about the work that you are doing with the Texas Veteran Commission.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Sure. So I am what is called a veterans Service officer and a claims benefits advisor. So what I do is I assist, uh, veterans who have gone through the military who have found themselves suffering with physical conditions as a result of their military service.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>So if we can prove that that ailment. So let's say, for example, the veteran is suffering from hearing loss because while they were in service, they were exposed to loud noises. We're talking RPGs, we're talking jet engines, uh, helicopter pilots. Jet pilots.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>It impacts their ability to hear external noise as well as they could prior to joining the military. So what I do is I help the veteran gather their medical records. I help them gather their DD214, which is basically a record of your service.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And then I help package all of that together and submit what we call a claim, where I am asking now the Department of Veterans affairs, on behalf of the veteran to please consider compensating this veteran for the damage that was done to their hearing while they were on active duty. So our mission statement is to provide for and to advocate for the Texas veteran in order to improve the quality of life significantly for the Texas veteran and their families. And so on a continuous basis, five days per week. That is what I do. Veteran after veteran after veteran, working hard to help them get the compensation that they have earned.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>So it's a lot of paperwork. You have to make sure the documents are done correctly.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>You have to be careful with dates and Social Security numbers and with data and with facts and timely submission. And then there are times when, unfortunately, the veteran may get denied. The VA may say, department of Veterans Affairs. That is, they may say, well, there's not enough evidence, so they'll deny the claim. So then the veteran comes back to me, and I tell the veteran, well, we need to see if we can get the evidence, the medical evidence the VA needs in order to provide you with this compensation. So this kind of goes back and forth in our effort to try to help the veteran. The other aspect of what I do is I help the surviving spouse. Uh, as you know, with the cycle of life, people come and people go. And when we lose a veteran. I assist the surviving spouse who may not ever have even done anything with the military as far as being a veteran, etc.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>But they were married to this veteran, and so there are even benefits for them for the surviving spouse if certain criteria is met. For example, if the veteran, let's say on active duty, he suffered with a heart condition and he continued to have a heart condition once he left service, and the VA then says, your heart condition is due to your rigorous military service, and we have the evidence that the heart condition began while you were on active duty, then the surviving spouse can take documentation and say, well, my veteran passed away and was service connected, receiving compensation for the condition from the Department of Veterans affairs at the time of his or her passing. Then the VA says, oh, okay, well, on behalf of a grateful nation, we are going to now provide you surviving spouse with benefits as well. So we encompass not only the veteran, but also spouses in certain situations when certain criteria is met.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All, uh, right. Well, definitely thank you for your service and appreciate everything that you were doing and that you are doing well.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Thank you, Curtis. It's certainly an honor to have served such a great nation. So you're very welcome and your appreciation is, is very, very appreciated. Thank you.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, you tried your hand in politics, you know, uh, so, you know, kind of, kind of let us know about that as well.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Well, you know, I believe, of course, that the Lord Jesus Christ, um, gives certain expectation or has certain expectation.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And I believe that even as a Christian, that even we have a place in the legislatures at the state level.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And I believe that I felt called to try to actually run for office.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And I ran up against in my first campaign, the. And I won't mention any names or anything like that, but the individual I ran against was an incumbent who had been in office for.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>For more than 20 years.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And at the state legislature level and in the state of Texas, I felt that, well, I need to give this person an operational pause. That's a term we use in the military where I'm not saying this person is doing a bad job. I'm just saying you've served your time. I think it's time for someone else to step up and take the baton to the next level. And this was in 2020.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>So I use the whole, we're heading into, you know, um, a new decade, and let's bring in new leadership into the new decade.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>But campaigns cost a lot of money, and my husband has always been supportive of me.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>We've been married for almost 30 years.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>He, uh, also is a veteran, and so he understands whenever I'd have to go, deploy or travel around.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>So he's been very supportive of really anything I wanted to do to include running for office after I retired. But we did decide we are not going to spend a whole lot of money to do this campaign. A state representative in the state of Texas only earns about $7,500 per year. That's it. The other income that a state, um, representative gets is through per diem whenever they travel. So my husband and I agreed that we were not going to spend more than $7,500, which is about the income of a state representative in the state of Texas. So we did our best. We prayed, we traveled around, we went to a couple of debates. I did well. However, I feel that the constituents in my district were so afraid to move outside of their comfort zone. They were very comfortable with this representative, uh, to the extent that I was not successful. And I thank God that I believe that my steps are ordered. I want to glorify God. I want to demonstrate a life that is disciplined and dedicated to living based on what the word of God says.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And so when I lost the election, I knew that God was saying to me, vanessa, I have something else in store for you. Otherwise I would have won that election. So being a Christian, even though in the natural, my heart hurt because I lost, but I was able to compensate for that pain because I am a believer. I know that God has me and my best interest in his mind, in his intent. And I was able to suffer through that loss and just move on with my life. Now what's interesting is that there were several people that they wrote me letters, they sent campaign donations, they came to my campaign events. I had several people that said, I want Vanessa to be that state representative.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And so I did end up receiving about 14,000 votes in that election.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And I felt like I won 14,000 times individually with those individual voters because they went into that ballot box, they had a choice and they chose me. And that meant so much to me that, wow, a human being actually wanted me to be their state representative.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And that was another way for me to cope with the loss. And when this 20 plus year incumbent, after a few more years, decided to finally not run for re election, I was sort of conflicted because I felt that the people who voted for me when I went up against a 20 year incumbent expected me to run. As if to say, okay, Vanessa, uh, now that seat is open, what are you going to do? And I, uh, prayed about It And I feel that I had worked hard my whole life to become the type of candidate that I would vote for. For example, I expect a candidate to believe in God, to believe in this great country, United States of America, to believe in the state that they live in. If it's a state level election, I expect them to understand and uphold and believe in the Constitution. I expect them to also embrace the concept of a free market and capitalism.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And I also expect them to not want big government, but believe in limited government. I also prefer a candidate who has served in the military, set foot on foreign oil and on, um, foreign soil, excuse me. And wants to demonstrate that they would die if necessary for this country.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>I like candidates who have made that type of commitment, or even a candidate who has worked hard in things like civil rights movements, worked hard as a civilian up against that fight, and has a track record to demonstrate that they have stepped into the arena, if you will, to fight for our rights. So it doesn't necessarily have to be a combat veteran. It could be someone that fought for civil rights. And so through my life, I also expect a candidate to have, uh, a family and to demonstrate they understand what a wife, what a husband, what a family goes through in terms of their expenses to live, to be able to feed their families and to be able to pay their bills, to pay their taxes. So I prefer candidates who have that kind of experience as well. So I made sure that I met my own standards before I decided to run for office, not once, but twice. So I decided to go ahead and give it another try. It was a crowded field. Um, I was the only female on the ticket for that state representative, uh, job. Not to say that that makes any difference whatsoever, just to kind of give you an idea of the dynamics associated with it. And I was not successful. Uh, but again, it goes back to me believing that God has something else in store for me. So now I'm at the point in my life where if I ever do run for office again, it would have to be a very huge message, um, if you will, a calling where God says, okay, Vanessa, this is it. You need to run for this seat at this time for this office. But until that occurs, my focus now is on being the best claims, um, benefits advisor that I can be, to be the best mom, the best wife, um, that I can be, and to promote, uh, decision making, uh, for individuals who are tired of making the kinds of decisions that aren't benefiting them.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And I know based on my life experience, my belief in God and his Word, I Know I can help people improve. So regardless of winning or losing elections, I always want to be known for that lady who, uh, wrote a book about decision making based on the word of God.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And that can help you.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Kind of tell us about your book, you know, tell us where we can get it and, uh, what listeners can expect when they read it.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Absolutely. Yes, sir. So the name of the book is Decision Precision Vision. And I want to talk about why I named it, what I named it.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>It's a tongue twister. I understand that. But while I was in the military, I ended up having to have open heart surgery. I had a bad mitral valve. And we're talking. I was hard charging. I was already an army major, a, uh, field grade officer at the time. I was great physically. I could run with the guys, I could fire my weapon, I could deploy into combat zones, wear all the gear. And when I started to feel dizzy in the mornings, I realized something was wrong. And it was my husband that said, you need to go get this checked. So I did, and the rest is history. They found that my mitral valve was uh, basically not operating properly and my heart was basically filling up with blood. And had I not gone in when I did, my life was basically, uh, ticking away. I could have basically been dead at any moment had that valve not been repaired. So during that process, I have my. I had my two sons. And I thought, you know, Lord, I don't know if I'm going to make it through this. And there's so much wisdom, so much I want to tell them, and I fear that I'm not going to get a chance to tell them everything. And they still have to get through all of the phases of life. I wanted to be the mom to help give them guidance.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And so that's when the idea came into my mind to write them a love letter.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>I wanted to write them a love letter. And I did based on the wisdom I wanted to pass on in case I didn't make it through this whole heart surgery ordeal.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>I did make it through the ordeal. I did give. They were very young. I did have the letter. And in case I didn't make it, I, um, was going to have my husband give them the letter.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>But then I started feeling God was telling me, you need to now take the letter to the next level. And so I did.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>It became a manuscript.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And the decision, precision, vision. The thing I want my sons, or, uh, wanted my sons to know was that God and John

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10 said this. I have come so that you may have life and have life more abundantly.

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And I believe that in order to arrive at the abundant life that God already wants us to live so that we can ultimately glorify him with our decisions.

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If you want to arrive at that, you must be precise. You must tie into the abundant life vision that God has for you. In order to do that, you have to be deliberate. And the Bible also talks about being on the narrow path.

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The Bible says that in there is a narrow path gate that we enter in through. And um, I like to expand that a little bit and call it the narrow path to enter in through the narrow gate onto the narrow path. And the Bible says that wide is the road to destruction.

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And I didn't want my sons ending up on that wide road to destruction.

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So I believe that abundant life is found through the narrow gate on the narrow path, which is basically a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And for that believer who accepts Jesus Christ, repents, accepts him as Lord and Savior, and gets on the narrow path and fellowships with other believers, practices the word of God. I believe that that person then makes decisions that are based on what the word of God says.

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Now that's not easy to do always. So my book Decision Precision Vision. I have eight fundamental steps based on what the word of God says. That if someone, anyone who decides to follow these steps, that they can improve their decision making. For example, the very first step is discernment. And anyone who reads my book will notice that I have taken the word decision and I have created a step based on each letter of the word decision. Each letter represents a step. Again, the D in the word decision represents discernment. And I'll open up each one of these as time allows. But I will give all eight of them to you so you can understand my acronym decision. So the letter D is to exercise discernment, which is basically choosing between good and evil.

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Then you have the letter E in the word decision that represents you must be able to envision. Remember God said he wants you to have an abundant life. So we have to envision ourselves living a life that is abundant and that glorifies God. The letter C represents basically choices or courses of action that we can choose from. For example, the prodigal son, when he decided to take his father's inheritance that his father gave to him, he could have done something good with the inheritance, but he decided to spend it frivolously. So I look into when you enter into decision, precision, vision, look at different courses of action while in the decision making process. The next letter is another I And that is information.

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We now live in the 21st century.

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We have computers, the Internet, where within a few keystrokes we can be presented with a plethora of information.

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So when someone say, for example, wants to buy a home, instead of going into that major purchase without looking at enough information, you could end up making a very big mistake. So the information gathering, the next element is the S again in the word decision.

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This is one of my favorite aspects of my decision, precision, vision, process and methodology. This represents the seasons of life. As you know, Curtis, we go through life in seasons. Age 0 to 19, I call that the spring phase. Age 20 to age 39, I call that the summer phase. Age 40 to age 64, that's the fall phase. Age 64 until death is the winter phase. There are decisions that should be made in the spring and summer that will set conditions for the fall and winter part of life. The next letter is the letter O. We must, as Christians, as believers, living the narrow path, abundant life that Jesus Christ died for us to have. We must be obedient. That's what the O stands for. I, uh, went ahead and included obedience, includes obedience to God, his word, obedience to your parents, where applicable, depending on the phase you're in obedience to the laws of the land. If you're not a law abiding person, you're going to end up out there on the road to destruction.

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So obedience and then I, uh, justify why it is important to be obedient to the word of God. Because Jesus Christ earned this obedience.

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Because he gave his life so that we could have everlasting life by believing and also by believing. He rose from the dead and he is coming back. The final letter in the decision, precision, vision process is the letter N.

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The letter N represents never quitting once you're on the narrow path. I encourage my readers to never get off the narrow path.

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Never stop making good decisions. And that is the letter N. Now I love to have symbols and so the, and I use symbols to help people remember the letters. So the letter D, my symbol is the dove. And all of these symbols are very poignant symbols that we find in the rich word of God. The letter D is the dove. The letter E is the eagle.

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C represents the cross.

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I represents an ivy. Uh, so Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. So I wanted to include that concept. The letter S is the sword. We know that Jesus also. Well in Ephesians it talks about how the full armor of God, the sword represents the word of God. So my symbol for the S is the sword, The I is, I have another I in there which represents iron. And the O, I use the olive branch that the dove had in her beak when she went out to check, uh, for dry land. And the N in the word decision represents the three nails that they pounded into Jesus Christ as he suffered and bled and died on the cross. So these are very strong symbols that can be helpful when people are trying to apply and use and remember the decision precision vision process.

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Now I have taught this. I, uh, unpackage it a whole lot more in Bible studies. I break it up into parts because I know that this can be, you know, pretty, um, dense for those that really want to understand it. But one of the things I do say to my listeners and to my readers is that even if you choose one element of my decision making process, for example, discernment, you will improve your decision making. And so the reason I say that is because discernment is that choice that you make from the very beginning that I am going to do good, I'm not going to do evil. And one of the things I tell my sons in order to always choose doing good over evil is to follow the Ten Commandments.

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Love God more than anything, don't have any idols, don't take his name in vain, remember the Sabbath day, honor your mother and father, don't be a murderer, don't be an adulterer, don't bear false witness, and don't covet and don't steal. If you could get a person to discern life and follow those fundamental elements of God's ten Commandments, you're going to live a pretty good life.

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The other piece, as far as discernment, even if you choose that one element to follow, you are going to follow the golden rule, which is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That is the golden Rule. M something that's very important. And discernment, if you choose from the very beginning, I'm going to treat people the way I want to be treated. You're going to live a pretty good abundant life. And then the last element of discernment is to choose to live by the fundamentals of the fruit of the Spirit. As you know, I'm sure, Curtis, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, long suffering, self control. If you are planting those seeds, the fruit of the Spirit, everywhere you go, every day, 24 7, you will reap what you sow and you will live an abundant life. So the book is actually available, uh, through Amazon, uh, I Found a great publisher, R.L. sloan with Harrison House Publishing, uh, helped me to publish this in large part. It was self publishing. Uh, so it is available on Amazon called Decision Precision Vision. Uh, and I also, uh, respond to request, uh, for speaking engagements for Bible studies. If people go to my website, which I will, I guess, share now, it's Vanessa, uh, Dot Hicks Callaway. Um dot com. That is my website that people can find more about me and my contact information if they decide they want me to come and do a presentation about how to use Decision Precision Vision. So that is the synopsis of this Christian making methodology that I've created that I use to help people, uh, stay on the narrow path and live the abundant life that Jesus Christ wants them to live.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, well, let's wrap this up. You know, tell listeners about any upcoming projects that you're working on that we need to be aware of.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Yes. So, um, as far as upcoming projects, I am planning on writing another book. I've got the outline. I'm still working on, you know, what I'm going to call it. So I'll be announcing, uh, my new book that I hope to have completed by the end of 2025.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Um, God. As if I don't have enough to do already, God has blessed me with, uh, passing the real estate exam. So I'm, uh, actually a, uh, real estate agent. And so I plan to take my real estate business, uh, to the next level. Um, I couldn't believe it. It's a very difficult exam. But God showed me favor and I did pass it the first time. So I'll be working on that. And in the future I'll also. I want to be like you, Curveball Curtis. I want to have my own podcast. So by the end of 2025, I'll be announcing my own podcast. Um, it will be Christian based, dedicated to helping people make better decisions.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>All right, we'll close this out with some final thoughts. Maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on any final thoughts you have with the listeners along with giving out your website again.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Well, yes, sir. Here's my final thought. I want to use, um, I guess it would be an analogy of a garden and with a garden at the end of life. You want to have a beautiful garden that represents flowers, and let's say each flower represents a decision that you made in life. Will that garden be reflective of beauty, showing that you have made great decisions throughout your whole life? Or will it be a field of, um, weeds and, you know, uh, destructiveness and what will it look like? What do you want your life really? It's a metaphor. What do you want your life to look like when it's all said and done? And I believe that if you are making good decisions, your life can look like a beautiful bouquet that you will present to God Himself at the White Throne of Judgment and say, thank you God for the life you gave me. I tried my best to live it abundantly. Here are these beautiful flowers and hopefully you will hear those words, well done, thou good and faithful servant. So I just encourage people to look at how they want their life to be and how it will be reflected not only to God, but also to family and friends and to yourself. And again, as far as reaching out to me, if you want to know more about this decision making process, you can go to vanessa.hicks calloway um.com Vanessa Hicks callaway uh.com and there you will find more information about how to contact me. And also want to thank you, uh, Curtis for allowing me this wonderful opportunity to be on such a great podcast.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>And I also want to thank the listeners for giving me an opportunity to talk about Jesus Christ, my love for him and decision making that will lead hopefully to an abundant life.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Oh and I want to thank you for coming on. And listeners, I want to thank you for listening. Please be sure to follow, rate, review, share this episode to as many people as possible. Pick up Vanessa's book, check out everything that she's up to and that she's got upcoming. Jump on your favorite podcast app. Check out the show, review it. Follow us if you have any guest or suggestion topics, Curtis Jackson 1978@att.net is the place to send them. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Vanessa, thank you for all that you do. And thank you for joining me.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Yes sir, you're very welcome. May you be blessed.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurveball.com.

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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>until next time, stay focused on living the dream.

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> Vanessa Hicks Calloway>Dream.